help from a non gardener

we have just moved house and need ideas about my garden,I dont want to spend a fortune and need it child friendly and low maintance,I really dont have a clue what to do with it,the top level slopes down and has bark on it which falls down and makes a mess,the 2nd level has a huge hole in it from a pond and had slate which I dont like,can anyone help ?

 

Welcome to GC :D

That actually looks like a gardener used to live there. It looks like they uprooted everything and took it with them . Was it like that when you viewed the property? I would stick a spade into the soil and take a picture of what the soil looks like a bit further down. I'm no expert though, its just handy to know what soil type you have, clay or not.

 

yeah it was like that when we viewed,I couldnt tell you what the soil type is ? there are a lot of rocks around so not sure where to start,anyone have any ideas

 

It would look great terraced, which would also stop the soil getting washed away with heavy rain.

 

No idea about big plans for the garden, but on a smaller scale, you could think about sectioning the garden area into different parts eg small flower bed on one side.

There you can put a couple of things that grow bigger over time like Red Robin or those bushes that have red berries. That would give you some colour. Then smaller shrubs like heather and or a type of Geranium (sorry, I don't know the name, but it grows every year in little clumps and has pink flowers in the summer - heathers ususally flower in Spring). Then, bulbs like Hyacinths, Daffodils, Tulips etc are great and then you can get other bulbs that flower in the summer. I'm not sure about Autumn bulbs, but all the above is low maintainence and looks really nice. I think if you are starting from scratch, try to find bulbs that grow at different times of year, rather than loads of seasonal bedding -that takes a lot of work, whereas bulbs come back year after year. Also, if you can get hold of good old fashioned Forget-me-nots, they self seed, grow everywhere and look really pretty.

You could also have a little grass section and a little section for the kids - where they can dig, plant their little plants, make a mess etc.

Hope that's of some help. The slope isn't great, but there's not much you can do about that. A rockery would be nice, but if you've got vey young children, not very child friendly!

 

thanks for all the replys the soil seems rather clay like,am thinking if digging in the level with the huge holeand filling it in then put some gravel over that area,may try to level off the slope and fencing the area around but not sure what to put on there as there is a drop can anyone suggest anything ?